Members of my family have lived in Auburn for six generations. I love our little city with its rivers, parks, schools, neighborhoods, college, museum, diversity, inclusiveness and all sorts of other attributes.

Yet, I get discouraged when I drive down Main Street and see so many parcels of land empty of buildings. It seems to me that we do not need more retail space or restaurants; we have plenty.

We don’t need another Kent Station; we have the Supermall. What we need is housing, a downtown condominium and apartment village. I’m not thinking two-story units, I’m thinking of well-designed buildings which are three or four stories high.

Think of the amenities. People living in a downtown condominium/apartment village could walk to Safeway, Rottles, the Transit Center, the hospital, doctor’s offices, the Post Office, City Hall, Jason’s Bake Shop, many restaurants, fine small parks and the farmers market.

Think of the benefits that the downtown businesses would accrue from having many more residents living in the area. Certainly the businesses of downtown Seattle have benefited from the hundreds of new condominiums and apartments built along First Avenue, Western Avenue and in Belltown.

Let us allow the downtown to flourish by encouraging housing developers to have a go at creating a beautiful village for the heart of the city.

– Rex W. Bell